ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert) (08/03/90)
I keep seeing release messages for Theldrow, and for each release I dutifully ftp a copy and try it out, and I never fail to die 30 times that evening and eventually give up in disgust, broke and disillusioned. Why is this game so bloody hard! I mean, gold is nowhere to be found, there's wild boars running around inside Boden that come from nowhere, monsters almost never have any treasure, and when they do it's a measly 5 gold... I'm not normally one to whine that a game is too hard, I mean, I LOVED Fool's Errand, even though some of the puzzles stumped me for days, but Theldrow seems arbitrarily malicious, to the point of unplayability. O.K. Some questions that may make me feel better abou the game... If you have no gold, where do you sleep? I see warnings that "it's been a long day" but I can't seem to find any way to "sleep here"... even if "here" isn't the safest place in the world. When you talk to people, what sorts of things do they tell you about? What secret words do you need to know to get them to loosen up? I've wasted more money trying to get people to tell me something... How can I escape from monsters (retreat) without giving them free attacks on me. It's bad enough that they all get a free punch when I meet them, but to give them another one when I'm running away? Okay, enough complaining. Actually, I think this is a well done system, an I'd love to get my hands on the world designers toolkit. It'd be nice to see a few more puzzles and less hack-n-slash, but perhaps I just haven't gotten that far yet. --Bob
Hughes@ils.nwu.edu (Lucian Hughes) (08/03/90)
ADVICE ABOUT CHARACTER DESIGN FOR THELDROW FOLLOWS (does that
constitute a spoiler?!):
I understand the frustration. It's critical to have a maximal dexterity:
so that it becomes very hard for monsters to hit you. This I find it
generally useful in any role playing game. You want to be sure you
have defensively very strong characters because inevitably at some
point you will be surprised by some tough monsters and unless your
hitpoints are high and your armor class high, you're toast. So
also, any leftover character points should be spent on constitution
for hitpoints (if that's a choice; I can't remember the exact
theldrow characteristics). Spend all your characteristic points,
don't waste them on gold.
Once you're tough to kill you go around walloping monsters and
taking their gold. Then you can stay at the inn (I think; it's
been awhile). It's a fun game and I recommend playing it through.
I wish the author would do the sequel but I have a feeling he
never will.
Have fun,
Lucianplien@Encore.COM (Peter Lien) (08/03/90)
Warning: posting over three pages
Bob,
I haven't gotten too far, but here's a few pointers on survival.
- choose your starting attributes carefully
No way to raise the attributes after starting (as far as I know).
My choice: DEX, CON, STR high(15 +), WIS, INT, CHR low(3 -)
basically a fighting character. Having attributes points left
over gives you extra cash to start.
- stay inside the town if you are beginning
You can duck into the inn or temple when things get rough.
- please Berabaku for extra prayers
By ducking in the temple and continuously praying, you will
heal up fatigue, plus get on the good side of your god.
Being on the good side gives you more prayers (cure wounds).
- practice your magic to gain spell casting ability
Zap the giant rat with magic missles when the going's easy.
You will be able to cast better spells quicker by practicing.
- don't retire for the day the first retire message come up
If you can fight, don't retire. If possible, wait until
the "You're dead tired" message to retire. The inn's
the only place to sleep, therefore you'll need to save
your money.
- don't waste your money on the barkeep, armor, or weapons
Armor doesn't protect sufficiently to justify the cost.
Weapons are a waste, you'll primarily use magic, anyway.
Barkeep won't give you any survival tips, so don't use
up your money to find this out :-).
- the monster always get an extra attack when you retreat
High DEX gives you first attack advantage, but won't
give you the escape. Most monsters will miss, however.
So, keeping these hints in mind, here's what I do:
Town: build up character, days 1-3
allocate extra cash, head over to town ASAP, go around and around gaining
experience - head out only when no monsters left, duck into temple to
heal fatigue (low fatigue let you hit better), use up your two cure light
wounds, try asking Beraku for a favor to restore prayers when used up,
retire to inn only when necessary. repeat for a day or two until you can
cast the fireball spell. avoid fighting giant ants if possible.
Cemetary: easy experience, day 3 or 4
head over to the cemetary (out where you came, make second left) and let
Berabaku turn undead the undead monsters. Collect your undead bone reagents.
Spider's nest: scimitar and spider web reagents, day 4 or 5
go out where you came, make first left, and the next left. cast the fireball
spell on them. if poisoned, you should know neutralize poison prayer by now.
Underground caverns: jewels - cash problems solved, day 6
head down to the underground caverns (search in deserted barn room in town)
make left, and take second left to enter an underground building.
fight creepers. they'll give you the needed jewels for the inn. if
you make it back to town with a jewel, you should have no cash problems.
Now you can wander around without worrying about cash.
-=/\=- Peter Lien
(plien@encore.com uunet!encore!plien plien@encore.UUCP)